Syrian exiles elect new president

Sunday

Jul 7, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Anne Barnard THE NEW YORK TIMES

The main Syrian exile opposition group elected a new president Saturday, the bodyís latest bid to end months of squabbling and show that it can unite, organize and arm the fighters battling Syriaís president, Bashar Assad.

The groupís new president, Ahmad Jarba, is a tribal sheik from northeastern Syria and is seen as close to the government of Saudi Arabia. He defeated Mustafa Sabbagh, a businessman viewed as an ally of Qatar, in a close runoff election in Istanbul to lead the group, the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, also known as the Syrian National Coalition.

Hanging over the election was the ouster last week of Egyptís president, Mohammed Morsi, who was backed by the Muslim Brotherhood. The coalition has suffered from criticism that it is dominated by the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, the best-organized exile group, and the choice of a president close to Saudi Arabia, which is hostile to the Brotherhood, was seen as a counterweight to its influence.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which supports the Brotherhood, are two of the main financiers of the Syrian uprising and have wrestled lately for influence over the movement.

Jarbaís credentials inside Syria, coalition members hoped, could help increase the groupís credibility. He was imprisoned as a member of the Damascus Declaration, a reform movement that challenged the government a decade ago. He is a sheik from the large Shummari tribe, and a cousin, according to the pan-Arab television channel Al Arabiya, is a rebel commander in control of an oil-rich area bordering Iraq. Jarba has a degree in political science.

The exile group has tried to streamline rebel battalions under its leadership and to help plan and deliver humanitarian aid. But it has been hamstrung by the lack of a reliable arms supply and its own infighting.

In March, the group elected a prime minister for an interim Syrian government, Ghassan Hitto. Hitto, a Syrian-American who was seen as a Brotherhood-backed candidate, has traveled to rebel-held areas of Syria in an effort to build legitimacy for the coalition. But without reliable financing and arms, he has struggled, even after the United States and other Western countries signaled that they planned to increase military support for the rebels.